St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-10-22
EYES TEMPTER.
THE ANTIPATHY OF MANKIND TO
SNAKES AN HEIRLOOM.
A Peculiar Sensation of Loathing Exper-
fenced by Some People on the Sight of
the Crawling Reptiles-Great Excuses for
Staining Ones Soul With a Falsehood.
| Copyrighted, 1871

oudhC. II Is all ueIlOOm uanueu GOWN
to us by our ancestors and based on good
grounds, for the unwarranted interfer-
ence of this creature with Mother Eve
resulted in our exile from Paradise and
the disagreeable necessity of having to
eat our bread in the sweat of our brow
Therefore no man should be condemned
for hating and killing the snake.
Some people experience sensations of
intense loathing at the sight of a snake,
no matter how diminutive or harmless he
may be- TO such loathing am stranger
as far as the snake is concerned. He
does not impress me half as disagreeably
as corpulent black spider, swollen with
malevolence and general wickedness.
The most horrible creature | ever saw
was a tarantula spider. AS large as half a
good-siZed walnut, thick and rounded
like the halt shell, with eight long legs
and covered with reddish brown hair,
a more disgusting looking insect have
yet to see. He is as deadly as he is ugly.
Giving no warning of his approach or
presence, he is more to be dreaded than
the rattlesnake and besides, he is at
tracted by light and crawls eagerly to
the tent or campfire of the traveller.
A Texan told me one evening that he
was travelling in a region infested by
hostile Comanches and where rattlesnakes
abounded. The presence of such I'M
pleasant neighbors naturally made him
anxious as to the location of his camp for
the night. AT last he found a spot which
not only promised security from Indians
but appeared free from snakes. He had
just lighted his fire when he perceived
tarantula crawling nimblv toward him;
behind him came another. He declared
they were as large as his clenched fist, and
his hand was of generous size. pared
down the dimensions of these two taran-
tulas before | accepted them in my mind.
If they were as large as walnuts in all con-
science they were big enough to terrify a
regiment. The Texan arose precipi-
tately to his feet and fled He slept amid
the rattlesnakes and exposed to the In
dians that night, and don't blame him.
1t is generally held that the most truth
full of men are liable to eXaggerate when
asked the result of a fishing excursion,
but if ever man is liable to stain his
soul with lie it is when describing an
adventure with a snake. He always
makes an error in mensuration, and the
inaccuracy is always in favor of the
snakes size. For this reason | will only
relate of two occasions in my life when |
was really frightened on account of a
snake. Once while hunting in my native
woods was climbing rocky slope, and
in making a step stumbled, falling on my
outstretched hands. To my horror I saw
directly in front, and not more than six
inches from my face, a large copperhead
snake, as deadly as the cobra. For an
instant was paralyzed with terror, for
was in striking distance of the reptile,
and had it been rattesnake | would
now be in my grave. The copperhead
is sluggish, and before he had made up
his mind to strike, had blown his head
to atoms. He was fully - feet long mo
one shall say that l tamper with the
truth) and thick in proportion, or rather
out of proportion, for he is a stumpy
snake Another time | was cunning in
the mountain regions of Western Mary
land, and was walking along high bank
which sloped precipitously to the public
road proceeded leisurely, feasting my
eyes on the magnif ent view, when sud-
denly l heard a curious noise-a noise
like the clicking together of some hard
substances, done so quickly that it
merged into a whir. For moment
l was in doubt whether it proceeded
from a rattlesnake or from the
throat of a particularly lusty grass
hopper, for these insects were click
ing all around me. | stood still and my
heart beat quick. Again it sounded and
I was convinced a rattlesnake was in
the vicinity, but where? For the life
of me | could not locate the noise, and
cold sweat broke out on my forehead.
Iwore no boots, simply stout walking
shoes, and | knew not what to do. To
proceed was obviously dangerous and to
go back appeared equally so, for the
reptile might be behind me. | stood
for possibly five minutes undecided,
and then, losing my presence of mind, l
rushed headlong down the slope to the
road. No judgment was displayed by
this action, for all | knew the snake
might have been in those very bushes,
but good luck favored me.
Naturalists have long debated as to
how the rattlesnake instils his venom
into the wound. The generally accepted
theory is that two fangs answering to
mans eye-teeth) in the snakes mouth
are hollow and perforated at the point
When the snake bites the poison flows
from its reservoir through this canal
into the wound. l saw this theory
boldly assailed some years ago in an En-
glish magazine. The writer claimed that
while the fangs were hollow they were
solid at the point, and compares the |
poison-sac to gumboil. When the snake |
strikes the pressure upon this sac causes
the venom to run down the outside of the
tooth and thus into the wound. In sup
port of his claim, he mentions intances
where, owing to the fangs having passed |
through clothing which absorbed the
poison, persons bitten have experienced |
no symptoms of poisoning; this, he
claims, would not occur if the venom
was inside the fang. 1t has been
stated that the rattlesnake is not